Stock futures trade lower on recession concerns

The government will release the monthly employment report on Friday and investors will get a report on the current number of job openings

U.S. equity futures were lower after a tepid trading session on Wall Street amid worries about a global recession.

The major futures indexes suggest a decline of 0.3% when the trading day begins.

Oil prices rebounded to recoup some of Tuesday's losses. The price of U.S. crude oil sank $8.93, eventually settling below $100 a barrel for the first time since early May.

On Wednesday, benchmark crude oil was trading around $101 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, was trading at $104 per barrel.

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Analysts said markets were focusing on a variety of risks, including inflation, oil prices, moves by the U.S. Federal Reserve and other central banks on interest rates, political developments in Britain and worries over COVID-19.

Traders and investors will get some insight Wednesday afternoon into last month's decision by the Federal Reserve to raise its benchmark interest rate by 75-basis points for the first time in nearly three decades. The Fed will publish minutes of the meeting at 2 p.m. in Washington.

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On the economic agenda are reports concerning the services sector and job openings.

Amazon.com has agreed to add Grubhub to its suite of Prime services in the U.S., in a deal that also gives the e-commerce giant the option to acquire a small stake, according to the Wall Street Journal. Grubhub’s parent, Netherlands-based Just Eat Takeaway.com NV, said Amazon has an initial option to take a 2% stake in U.S.-based Grubhub, and U.S. Prime members can have their delivery fees waived from select restaurants. Shares of rival Doordash were down 5% in pemarket trading

Bitcoin traded around $20,000.

In Asia, Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 lost 1.2%, Hong Kong's Hang Seng dropped 1.5% and China's Shanghai Composite slid 1.4%.

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Stock indexes ended with meager gains on Wall Street with a late-afternoon rally led by technology companies.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %
I:DJI DOW JONES AVERAGES 41794.6 -257.59 -0.61%
SP500 S&P 500 5712.69 -16.11 -0.28%
I:COMP NASDAQ COMPOSITE INDEX 18179.984429 -59.93 -0.33%

The S&P 500 rose 0.2% to 3,831.39. The Nasdaq climbed 1.7% to 3,831.39. The Dow Jones Industrial Average remained in the red, losing 0.4% to 30,967.82.

Investors are also looking ahead to the next round of corporate earnings. Several big companies recently warned that their financial results are being squeezed by inflation, including spice and seasonings maker McCormick.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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